Make Your Own Shampoo, Naturally

Get gorgeous locks without harmful chemicals. And smile, it's almost Hairstyle Appreciation Day.

"If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive."~ Dale Carnegie

We all have hair -- some more, some less. (Some of us even have it where we don't want it!)

Fine, medium, coarse, light blonde, copper-brown, honey-red, ginger-twist, sun-kissed, winter wheat or ash -- no matter, it's all hair. And maybe that color is even naturally yours (yeah, right!), or maybe you've just paid a small fortune for it. The possibilities are as limitless as the hairs on your head, all 120,000 of them (for those of you who still have a full head of it or have had a head-full woven in, giving you 240,000 perhaps!!??).

I actually have a lot of nerve writing anything about hair. Perhaps someone less "follicly challenged" than me -- with hair resembling the "10"-rated tresses of Bo Derek, the strong-as-nails strands of Rapunzel, the carrot-top mane of, eh, Carrot Top, or the magnificent salt'n'pepper crown of Toni Morrison -- should best write about Hairstyle Appreciation Day. Don't get me wrong, I have hair, and I do appreciate it...but, unfortunately, mine is mostly just clogging my drain.

What I can write about with authority, though, is that daily care with wholesome products can help keep your hair -- if you've got it -- strong and strikingly beautiful. When you're shopping for your products of choice, keep this in mind: if you can't pronounce the ingredients, they're probably not all that great for you. I mean, what did folks use before Madison Avenue invented that '50s icon, the Breck Girl?

Now once you've made your selection and finally commence the act of shampooing, remember to always massage your scalp slowly but thoroughly with your fingertips, to vigorously stimulate the circulation of blood on the skin wrapping around your skull. You'll be amazed at how much tension is stored there. Feel that tension float away as your digits activate your locks right down to the roots. (Even we baldies can benefit from this kind of stimulation!) Then, rinse thoroughly.

I know, I know, you're automatically saying to yourself, "rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat" because every commercially produced shampoo bottle has brainwashed us to do this. "Wash, rinse and repeat." "Wash, rinse and repeat." Says who? The "repeat" is less intended to properly clean your hair than it is to sell more shampoo. Only "repeat" if you're in the mood to do so or if your hair is so filthy that you think you absolutely must!

Let's not split hairs over this: remember, it's good health and mindful grooming that make for beautiful tresses, not standing in the shower, endlessly "washing, rinsing and repeating." In fact, you can very easily "repeat" yourself into a head full of dried out frizz if you're not careful.

Here are a few hair grooming suggestions from my newest book Clean Body for the continued health, beauty, manageability and all-around well-being of your "crowning glory." All of my ingredients are entirely natural, pure, familiar and safe, and require nothing more than "re-purposing" staples you most probably already have on hand. And rest assured that any of these ingredients washing down your drain are eco-benign, don't pollute, don't encourage algae growth, don't smother fish and other aquatic life and in no way upset the delicate balance of natural flora and fauna in our eco-system.

Knead a few tablespoons of olive oil into your dry scalp and hair. Swathe your oiled-up curls with a shower cap and take a thirty minute breather...snooze, toss back a latté, whatever. Then just shampoo as usual to reveal a refurbished mane that even Fabio would envy.

And for the simplest of shampoo replacements, combine one tablespoon of baking soda with two tablespoons of water -- remembering that this isn't going to look or feel like any shampoo you're accustomed to. Think of it more like a shamp-paste. There won't be mountains of foamy bubbles (you get those in commercial products because of the chemicals added to get all that lather). Work the paste through your hair and rinse thoroughly, for unexpectedly clean and remarkably shiny hair.

Hairstyle Appreciation Day (April 30) celebrates the distinctiveness of all styles of hair -- comb-over, cornrows, crew cut, flat-top, pigtails, or Elvis-like pompadour -- and allows each of us (bald or hirsute) to convey our unique brand of mindful beauty.

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